To the Pain

Today is my 5th day since surgery! On my left side just underneath the bottom of my rib cage I have a different type of stitch.

After finishing my surgery My surgeon came out and told my family that I had a little bit of extra bleeding so he stitched it up. He also warned them that the area would be fairly painful for me, more painful than my other incisions. He probably mentioned it to me too when he came upstairs to check on me that night but I was a bit out of it and having a panic attack, so I only remember so much of the first night.

This stitch makes moving around a bit difficult. Where my other incisions are I barely feel any pain at all. But in the one with the stitch I feel quite the sting in the one spot when ever I move my abdominal muscles. The pain comes in varying amounts of course, depending on how strenuous the activity. When I try to get comfortable in my bed and roll from side to side I get quite a shock like being stabbed. The same happens when I try to sit up from a laying down position the pain is excruciating. If I went in to say everything that hurts that area I would write a book so I'll move on to the pain management.

When I first got home I tried to just use Tylenol instead of the Oxycodone I was prescribed. It didn't really work. I called the office and they said to try taking the Oxycodone and let then know if that didn't help or my pain got worse etc.

So that's what I'm trying now. I took one 5mg tablet and I'm laying down for now until I know how it affects me. Hopefully I don't need to bring the dose up to 2 tablets. (I am prescribed 1 to 2, 5mg tablets, every 4 hours)

***Now this post isn't meant to scare you it's just my personal experience. Not everyone even needs this type of stitch, and the pain is manageable. I am also not a medical professional, always contact your doctor/surgeon etc with medical concerns. This blog is a description of my personal journey.***

Below is a picture of the painful incision with the steri-strips covering it.